Parents Visa

[van der Walts]

We do have PR but is still living in SA to finalise our stuff. The plan is to settle permanently in Jan 2011. Can I lodge a Contributory Parent Visa (143) while I am still in SA. If I can get the visa before we leave I can take my mom-in-law with. Is it possible?

The DIAC website said the sponsor must be "a settled Australian permanent resident".

[Nessa]

We do have PR but is still living in SA to finalise our stuff. The plan is to settle permanently in Jan 2011. Can I lodge a Contributory Parent Visa (143) while I am still in SA. If I can get the visa before we leave I can take my mom-in-law with. Is it possible?

The DIAC website said the sponsor must be "a settled Australian permanent resident".

Eish, sorry, but this seems to be DIAC's definition of settled:

A person is considered settled if they are an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen who is lawfully resident in Australia for a reasonable period. In normal circumstances, two (2) years is considered to be a reasonable period. For Australian citizens this period may be reduced to at least three (3) months.

I'm not sure what they mean by normal circumstances and whether there might be any circumstances for special consideration.

If you're lucky you could probably get a tourist visa that would allow her to spend most of her time with you during the first two years and while her application is processed.

[africa2aus]

Congratulations, Nessa! You and your Mom must be thrilled.

We're looking at doing the same thing for my Dad who's on a EU passport with PR for South Africa. I have a couple of questions:

How did your mom get an ETA tourist visa without any no further stay clause?

What is the name & contact details of the migration lawyer you used?

If your Mom is over 75, did she need a medical for the ETA visa? (I've checked this and see no mention of it anywhere...)

Many thanks!

Woohoo! Just heard that my mom's visa has been granted!

Thought I would post the good news here and some background for anyone interested.

We lodged Mum's application for Contributory Aged Parent (864) in July 2009. This was an onshore application. My mom is on a UK passport, so she was able to get an ETA tourist visa without any no further stay clause and came over in June to start the process. When her tourist visa ran out she automatically went onto a bridging visa A, no need to apply seperately. In October 2009 the CO requested PCC, medicals and assurance of support. There were some hassles with the PCC (SAPS 'didn't receive' our cheque!) and that eventually came through mid-December. Just after Christmas we got the letter asking for the second installment (that 34k). We had 28 days to pay. I ended up getting a personal loan to finance it. National Bank had no problem with giving a loan for that purpose; in fact they seemed quite sympathetic as there was a possibility that it might not have been approved based on my income and lack of assets but in the end it was. Paid on 2 January and got the visa grant letter today!

We did the application ourselves but also met with a migration lawyer to have all the paperwork checked over before we lodged. This cost a lot less than having an agent take care of the whole process. but allowed us to have some questions answered and feel confident we hadn't made any mess ups with the forms and ten thousand supporting documents.

Good luck to everyone else applying!!!

[Nessa]

Congratulations, Nessa! You and your Mom must be thrilled.

We're looking at doing the same thing for my Dad who's on a EU passport with PR for South Africa. I have a couple of questions:

How did your mom get an ETA tourist visa without any no further stay clause?

What is the name & contact details of the migration lawyer you used?

If your Mom is over 75, did she need a medical for the ETA visa? (I've checked this and see no mention of it anywhere...)

Many thanks!

Thanks Africa2Aus! It is such a relief to have that finalised :-)

Have a look at the tourist visa options here: http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/visa-options.htm

If I understood correctly, EU passport holders can apply for eVisitors rather than the 676 tourist visa that South Africans have to get. Because the ETA and eVisitor are for certain countries only, they tend to have fewer restrictions and you are unlikely to get a no further stay clause. In this case your Dad could come into Aus on his tourist visa, apply for the parent visa within 3 months, and automatically go onto a bridging visa when the tourist one runs out.

He would, however, need a return ticket with a visitor visa, and it's best just to say he's coming on holiday when he applies for the visa and arrives in Aus.

My mom is just under 70 so we didn't run into the medical question for the ETA visa.

I see you're in Sydney...? Not sure if a Melbourne lawyer will be of help, but if you are interested PM me and I'll send all the details.

Good luck :-)

[africa2aus]

Thanks, Nessa, this has been so helpful and has given us some hope in getting my Dad here. We're still worried about the medical though because he has some health issues, but he will definitely be taking out full private medical cover so maybe that will help the case. I don't know, I will need to check that out in more detail.

Did you have to provide an Assurance of Support for your mum? If so, how much was it?

You're right, a Melbourne lawyer is probably not the most practical - will need to find a good Sydney one.

Many thanks, again.

Thanks Africa2Aus! It is such a relief to have that finalised :-)

Have a look at the tourist visa options here: http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/visa-options.htm

If I understood correctly, EU passport holders can apply for eVisitors rather than the 676 tourist visa that South Africans have to get. Because the ETA and eVisitor are for certain countries only, they tend to have fewer restrictions and you are unlikely to get a no further stay clause. In this case your Dad could come into Aus on his tourist visa, apply for the parent visa within 3 months, and automatically go onto a bridging visa when the tourist one runs out.

He would, however, need a return ticket with a visitor visa, and it's best just to say he's coming on holiday when he applies for the visa and arrives in Aus.

My mom is just under 70 so we didn't run into the medical question for the ETA visa.

I see you're in Sydney...? Not sure if a Melbourne lawyer will be of help, but if you are interested PM me and I'll send all the details.

Good luck :-)

[Nessa]

You're welcome :-)

The medical was one of our biggest concerns too, but I think they don't expect "aged parents" to be in the very best of health. When my Mum went for her medical the doctor seemed very concerned about her back problems, but in the end she got it without any extra tests or anything. We also got her onto overseas visitor health cover when she arrived and provided that info with her application.

Yeah, the assurance of support was 10,000, which you get back (plus some interest) after ten years. What surprised us was that this had to be paid before the visa was finalised! Apparently we would have got it back if the visa had not been granted. (I've explained this in more detail earlier in the thread).

You could try the NSW law society for referral to a migration lawyer

[trevil]

We are in the process of bringing my parents over, they have to pay the medicare levy and they lodged April 2009 and their agent told them it looks like they'll be getting their CO btw April and July this year. They do have to do PCC and meds. Their agent reckons the wait is 12 - 18mths since the recession alot of applications have been withdrawn and the que has become considerably shorter..........YAY

Hi Roxy

Have you had any news from DIAC on your parents application? I'm very interested to know as I lodged our Application "offshore" in March this year, and have also been advised that I can expect to have a CO in approximately 15 months time. We are applying for the Temporary Contributory Parent Visa.

[trevil]

CONGRATS Nessa!!!! You guys must be so happy!!!! Waiting with bated breath for my parents to get theirs. They are off shore so it'll take a bit longer I suspect!!!

[Nessa]

Thanks Trevil - I hope your parents' application goes quickly! When we were at Centrelink for Mum's Assurance of Support the lady there told us they were also processing a lot of offshore applications, so the queue must be moving... At least you are going the contributory route! A lady at the bank told me she had applied for her parents on the non-contributory visa SEVEN years ago, and according to the queue calculator they have another two to go...

[sysie]

Hi Can anyone tell me the real world difference between applying for the Contributory Parent (Temporary) Visa (Subclass 173) visa first and then Contributory Parent (Migrant) Visa (from Subclass 173 to Subclass 143) as suppose to directly applying for Contributory Parent (Migrant) Visa (Subclass 143) ???

Is the processing of the Contributory Parent (Temporary) Visa (Subclass 173) visa faster ???

Can you remain in Australia if you are on a 173 while you wait for the 143 ? ?

Thanks !!!!

[SD_MOA]

Hi Can anyone tell me the real world difference between applying for the Contributory Parent (Temporary) Visa (Subclass 173) visa first and then Contributory Parent (Migrant) Visa (from Subclass 173 to Subclass 143) as suppose to directly applying for Contributory Parent (Migrant) Visa (Subclass 143) ???

Is the processing of the Contributory Parent (Temporary) Visa (Subclass 173) visa faster ???

Can you remain in Australia if you are on a 173 while you wait for the 143 ? ?

Thanks !!!!

Hello Sysie,

There are no differences in processing times. The main purpose the SC173 was introduced was to allow applicants to defer some of the cost (VAC and AOS).

If you have the funds available I would recommend going straight for the SC143.

You certainly can remain in Australia on the 173 whilst the 143 is processed.

Regards

Edited June 21, 2010 by SD_MOA

[VAD]

With contributory parent visas, does the parent not have to go for medicals?

May, do you already have a visa? If not you could add her as a 'dependant' on your application...?

I do, the agent said if she failed the medicals we all would fail. I would like my mom across but my kids have their whole life ahead. We have not moved yet because we are fortunate in SA and the recession happened weeks after our visa was granted, we have a lot of arrangements incl m-in-law who has alzheimers. my husband was an unwilling participant but now he sees the writing on the wall come 2011.

Hi All

I usually just browse this site for research but this particular thread caught my attention so I hope you don't mind me butting in.

I have Australian citizenship by decent and intend moving to Aus with my hubby and son but we would like to take my mother with. Does anybody know if we can include her as a dependent on hubby's application? As she has been living with us for a few years now and she is financially dependent on us.

Just some background information. My father is an Australian citizen living in Aus, my parents are still legally married but haven't lived together for the past 8 or 10 years but they do still speak via the telephone or skype. I sister already lives in Aus, 1 brother lives in Canada and another will stay behind in SA so if we move to Aus that would mean 505 of her kids live in Aus. She does have high blood, diabetes and had cancer about 4 years ago but all in all she is in very good health for a 70 year old.

So to cut a very long story short does anybody know if adding her to hubby's application as a dependent is a visable idea?

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Leahjuliet]

Am curious about how to avoid having a "no further stay clause" on the parents tourist visa, which they need to avoid if they wish to apply for any aged parent visa according to an earlier post. How does one avoid this clause? Am also confused about which type of tourist visa my parents (who intend to try to follow us) should apply when visiting us on holiday? There seem to about 5 different variations according to the immigration web-site!!

also if on contributory aged parent visas, they would have access to medicare but not to a health (concession) card for which they need to be receiving an Australian pension. This means they would need to pay in excess of $30 per medication - which could get pricey for a (controlled long-term) diabetic and they are both on anti-hypertensives etc. Is there any way to avoid the 10 year wait for the health card?

[Nessa]

Hi Leahjuliet

If your parents are going to apply onshore for an aged parent visa they do need the no further stay clause on their tourist visa. This ended uip not being a problem for us as my mom's on a UK passport and was able to get the ETA tourist visa, which is only for certain passport holders - not RSA. I read other posts on the forum about family members getting really good tourist visas through certain travel agents, so ask around! The main thing is for the authorities to be confident that they are just coming over on holiday...

If they weren't able to apply onshore they can still apply offshore, the process just takes a bit longer.

On medicare you pay a maximum of just over 30 dollars for any prescription medication. I'm not sure about the healthcare card, but they should be eligible for seniors/pensioner cards as soon as they have PR, which does give some benefits.

[Leahjuliet]

My parents tend to do their visas directly (but have an SA passport) so I will need to do more research

I see on the Centrelink web-page there are 2 types of healthcare cards for seniors - one for those getting an Australian pension and those who are not eligible for an Australian pension - I assume they would fall into the latter category.

Am now worried at the talk by Tony Abbot about dropping immigration quotas, mainly for the family stream, in the paper yesterday!

Thanks

Hi Leahjuliet

If your parents are going to apply onshore for an aged parent visa they do need the no further stay clause on their tourist visa. This ended uip not being a problem for us as my mom's on a UK passport and was able to get the ETA tourist visa, which is only for certain passport holders - not RSA. I read other posts on the forum about family members getting really good tourist visas through certain travel agents, so ask around! The main thing is for the authorities to be confident that they are just coming over on holiday...

If they weren't able to apply onshore they can still apply offshore, the process just takes a bit longer.

On medicare you pay a maximum of just over 30 dollars for any prescription medication. I'm not sure about the healthcare card, but they should be eligible for seniors/pensioner cards as soon as they have PR, which does give some benefits.

[billabong]

I also have a question here.....if someone can help me....I want to know if they get the visa must they stay in Australia permanently or can they do say 6 months here and 6 months back in SA?......

[SD_MOA]

I also have a question here.....if someone can help me....I want to know if they get the visa must they stay in Australia permanently or can they do say 6 months here and 6 months back in SA?......

Hello Billabong,

Once your parents have their visa they can come and go from Australia as they please. They will need to meet the requirements for a RRV after 5 years though (unless they become citizens).

Regards

[billabong]

Thanks! What is a RRV?....

[SD_MOA]

Thanks! What is a RRV?....

Hello Billabong,

Sorry, a RRV is a Resident Return Visa. If you are in Australia as a PR then your initial PR visa (SC175/6 or whatever) is only good for travel outside of Australia for 5 years. After that time if you ar not a citizen and wish to travel out of Australia you need to apply for a RRV. This is very straight forward as long as you meet the residency requirements.

Regards

[Nessa]

Hi Stephen

Could you explain a bit more about the residency requirements when applying for the RRV? Is it any different if you apply within or from outside Australia?

Thanks :-)

[billabong]

Thanks!

[Roxy]

Hi Roxy

Have you had any news from DIAC on your parents application? I'm very interested to know as I lodged our Application "offshore" in March this year, and have also been advised that I can expect to have a CO in approximately 15 months time. We are applying for the Temporary Contributory Parent Visa.

Hi Trevil

They got a CO on Monday the 10th August requesting us to go for AoS interview at Centrelink etc. So they should have their visas soon cos they frontloaded their meds and PCC's about a month ago :ilikeit:

I'm quite looking forward to them coming over now I can start to get excited

[trevil]

Hi Trevil

They got a CO on Monday the 10th August requesting us to go for AoS interview at Centrelink etc. So they should have their visas soon cos they frontloaded their meds and PCC's about a month ago :ilikeit:

I'm quite looking forward to them coming over now I can start to get excited

[trevil]

Thats great news, Roxy bet you are all thrilled. Please let me know how long it has taken for a CO to be appointed. When you say you frontloaded the meds and PCC what does this mean, i.e. do you send same before your CO was appointed? Would like to find out what we are in for.

Kind regareds

[Roxy]

Thats great news, Roxy bet you are all thrilled. Please let me know how long it has taken for a CO to be appointed. When you say you frontloaded the meds and PCC what does this mean, i.e. do you send same before your CO was appointed? Would like to find out what we are in for.

Kind regareds

Its taken 16mths. They frontloaded in June cos their agent said they should hear something in the couple months preceeding June. It was a risk to frontload cos they had no gaurantee that their PCC's and meds would not expire cos they are only valid for a year. Yes it means they sent it all before they got a CO.........